Ordination Questions – Humanity & the Need for Divine Grace

2.) What effect has the practice of ministry had on your understanding of humanity and the need for divine grace?

I entered ministry holding together two views of humanity. First, we are created in the image of God (the imago Dei). In fact, the Psalmist marvels at the way in which humans are created “a little lower than God…and crowned with glory and honor.” In other words, we are created for goodness and wholeness in the exact image of God. Yet on the other hand, one need only to watch the evening news to see that our world is broken and disjointed. As Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Things are not the way God intended. In my ministry, I have seen the heights and depths of both views. I have seen the mystery of God’s good creation cradling infants in my arms to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and I’ve seen the brokenness of our world in the struggle of a husband and wife whose marriage collapses under the stresses and strains of life.

This tension between the original goodness of God’s creation and the reality of evil and brokenness in our world is the place where we live. Far too often, I have found that people put these in the wrong order. Instead of seeing the imprint of God’s gracious presence in their lives, far too many Christians have heard this message, “You are a despicable, worthless creature, but God might just be able to do something with you yet.” Instead, the wonderful gospel message we are called to share is this, “No matter how you might feel, no matter what you have gone through, you are one of the crowning achievements of God’s good creation! Even though the Fall is lived and reenacted daily in the lives of women and men, the good news is that God will stop at nothing to repair what is broken in your life. The story of Jesus is the story of God’s great reclamation project of our world. God is continually working to form each one of us into the imago Dei. God is actively at work, graciously restoring you to wholeness.”

Grace is the gift of God’s ongoing reclamation of the world, and I have seen this in the lives of those people I serve. I have seen it in a woman recovering from addiction as she joined the Church by professing her faith in Jesus. Immediately she was surrounded by a new family that loves, cares, and prays for her. In that scene, I don’t simply see someone added to the membership rolls; I see the work of God’s new creation happening right there in our midst. I have seen it in a community asking me what has gotten into our members, “I don’t know what’s going on over there, but something’s different.” That is far more than more workers being added to our depleted ranks; that is the very work of God’s new creation happening in our midst. Sin and brokenness are real, but God’s love came first. Through the grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, our world is being transformed. That is my understanding of what grace is all about.

Ordination Questions – Experience & Understanding of God

Inspired by the commissioning responses of Andrew over at Thoughts of Resurrection and the ordination responses of Andy at Enter the Rainbow, I’ve decided to post a few of my own. This has been taking up a lot of my writing time, so I thought at least my blog wouldn’t go silent in the meantime. So, feel free to comment, make suggestions, ask questions, etc. These are all rough drafts and will most likely change in some form or another.

1.) How has the practice of ministry affected your experience and understanding of God? Oftentimes, ministry is like the weather in Oklahoma. If you are not happy with what’s happening at any given moment, all you need to do is wait and it will change! Three scenes scattered from my last three years of ministry illustrate this perfectly: a quiet evening at home with my family is interrupted with the news of a motorcycle accident involving a teen from our congregation who was broken but survived, I am awakened by a late night call with word that a beloved matriarch of our congregation is dying in the hospital intensive care unit, and an evening visit with community members at the local high school football game is cut short in order to be with a family at the funeral home when the body of their loved one arrives.

In the middle of life, in the very midst of ministry, I have learned to experience and understand God in a new way. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once said, “I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.” Looking back at my answers immediately following seminary, I see a very complex doctrinal portrait of God focused on God’s Triune nature, creative power, redemptive purposes, and eschatological vision. Even though I still hold strongly to these commitments, the very practices of baptizing both young and old, offering God’s grace at the table, speaking words of both comfort and challenge from Scripture, sitting with the dying, and leading worship for the bereaved have helped me move more closely to the simplicity beyond complexity. It is no wonder that the first letter of John to the “beloved,” eventually states the simple fact that, “…God is love.”

At times, I am overwhelmed by the sheer mystery and complexity of our Triune God, but through the free gift of grace, I have experienced God’s abiding presence and abundant peace in the midst of the storms of life. Through countless experiences watching God at work in the lives of others, I am more and more convinced of God’s transforming love. So even with a full appreciation of God’s complexity, I have a simple trust that God’s eternal self-giving love descends to us in the incarnation, seeking to reach out to save those who are hopeless, helpless, and hungry.

It is this simple loving presence in the world that motivates my ministry. It is God’s subtle, yet increasingly real work in my life that sustains me through the ups, downs, and surprises of service. The fullness of God’s love is the fullness for which I’m willing to lay down my life.

Hebrews 11 – Perseverance Personified

Hebrews 11:1 is a fascinating verse, but there is hardly a consensus on how it should be translated. For example:

NRSV – Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
NIV – Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
NKJV- Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

With a little help from various commentators and a peek at the Greek, here is the rendering (because it’s darn sure not a translation) I’d like to offer: Faith is the reality of everything we’re looking forward to – the very witness of what remains unseen. Somehow, faith is the very reality of the end to which things are heading – faith itself, is the witness to what remains unseen. After my little paraphrase, I thought I’d look up Eugene Peterson’s as well. Here’s the rendering in

The Message – The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.

As I read this, it drew me to think about examples of those, like Abraham in Hebrews 11, who pressed on in spite of a lack of clarity – those who lived faithfully in spite of the dim vision we have of the unseen reality of God. Thinking as a good Methodist, John Wesley was definitely one who came to mind. I found a reference to Wesley’s perseverance here.

Problem is, I like to check stuff like this and the words they said were in Wesley’s Journal were nowhere to be found. Trust me, I checked the PDF version at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library! It is there in Spirit, but you’ve gotta do a little work. Here’s what I found (with a little editing such as adding the months, even though I didn’t track down the years):

Sunday, May 7^th: I preached at St. Lawrence’s in the morning, and afterward at St. Katherine Cree’s Church. I was enabled to speak strong words at both; and was therefore the less surprised at being informed that I was not to preach any more in either of those churches.

Sunday, May 14^th: I preached in the morning at St. Ann’s, Aldersgate; and in the afternoon at the Savoy Chapel, free salvation by faith in the blood of Christ. I was quickly apprised that at St. Ann’s, likewise, I am to preach no more.

Friday, May 19^th: I preached at St. John’s, Wapping at three and at St. Bennett’s, Paul’s Wharf, in the evening. At these churches, likewise, I am to preach no more.

Friday, November 3^rd: I preached at St. Antholin’s; Sunday, 5, in the morning, at St. Botolph’s, Bishopsgate; in the afternoon, at Islington; and in the evening, to such a congregation as I never saw before, at St. Clement’s, in the Strand. As this was the first time of my preaching here, I suppose it is to be the last.

Friday, March 10.—I rode once more to Pensford at the earnest request of serious people. The place where they desired me to preach was a little green spot near the town. But I had no sooner begun than a great company of rabble, hired (as we afterwards found) for that purpose, came furiously upon us, bringing a bull, which they had been baiting, and now strove to drive in among the people. But the beast was wiser than his drivers and continually ran either on one side of us or the other, while we quietly sang praise to God and prayed for about an hour.

Then in Wesley’s 85th year of life, with a history of many successes and perhaps far more apparent failures, he writes these words near the end of his journal:

Saturday, August 22. I crossed over to Redruth and at six preached to a huge multitude, as usual, from the steps of the market house. The Word seemed to sink deep into every heart. I know not that ever I spent such a week in Cornwall before.

Sunday, August 23.–l preached there again in the morning and in the evening at the amphitheater, I suppose, for the last time. My voice cannot now command the still increasing multitude. It was supposed they were now more than five and twenty thousand.

In the end, like Abraham, Wesley didn’t see the invisible and heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16) that he desired, yet he pressed on in faith. That’s the kind of faith that is the very witness of that which remains unseen. May we all live so faithfully!

Lest You Think You’re Unimportant…

Just in case you think you are unimportant as a pastor to the growth and attitude of a congregation, read this excerpt from Bishop Willimon’s weekly message,

In visits to countless congregations, and in my own pastoral experience, I have come to the rather frightening conclusion that pastors are a decisive element in the vitality and mission of the church. To be sure, as we have said repeatedly, the pastor is not to assume all ministry in the church. The baptized are the chief ministers in the name of Christ. Pastors are to lead through service rather than dominance. The Holy Spirit is the source of all ministry. But having said all that, we still must say that the pastor is decisive. The pastor’s mood and attitude sets the tone for the congregation, conveys hope and energy to the people, hurts and heals, binds and releases. Sometimes, as a pastor, I wish it were not so, but it is. What Jesus wants for the church must become incarnate in a pastor or, in my experience, it does not happen.

I recall a distinguished church growth consultant who, in a workshop on congregational development, spent more than an hour listing all of the factors that were relevant to the vitality and growth of a congregation. There must have been more than two score of such factors listed. Then he led us in discussion. The first person to speak was a layperson who asked, “But don’t you think the pastor is a key factor in all of this?”

The consultant replied, “Oh, certainly. If the pastor’s leadership is lacking, you can discount everything that I have listed on the board. All of these factors contribute to growth. But if the pastor is inadequate, none of the factors that I have listed make any difference.”

Lest You Think You’re Unimportant…

Just in case you think you are unimportant as a pastor to the growth and attitude of a congregation, read this excerpt from Bishop Willimon’s weekly message,

In visits to countless congregations, and in my own pastoral experience, I have come to the rather frightening conclusion that pastors are a decisive element in the vitality and mission of the church. To be sure, as we have said repeatedly, the pastor is not to assume all ministry in the church. The baptized are the chief ministers in the name of Christ. Pastors are to lead through service rather than dominance. The Holy Spirit is the source of all ministry. But having said all that, we still must say that the pastor is decisive. The pastor’s mood and attitude sets the tone for the congregation, conveys hope and energy to the people, hurts and heals, binds and releases. Sometimes, as a pastor, I wish it were not so, but it is. What Jesus wants for the church must become incarnate in a pastor or, in my experience, it does not happen.

I recall a distinguished church growth consultant who, in a workshop on congregational development, spent more than an hour listing all of the factors that were relevant to the vitality and growth of a congregation. There must have been more than two score of such factors listed. Then he led us in discussion. The first person to speak was a layperson who asked, “But don’t you think the pastor is a key factor in all of this?”

The consultant replied, “Oh, certainly. If the pastor’s leadership is lacking, you can discount everything that I have listed on the board. All of these factors contribute to growth. But if the pastor is inadequate, none of the factors that I have listed make any difference.”

Oklahoma United Methodist Blogroll

Following Andrew’s lead over at Thoughts of Resurrection, I’ve decided to include a blog roll for Oklahoma United Methodist bloggers over on the sidebar. I’ve added all that I know about, so if you’re a pastor or active layperson who blogs in the Oklahoma Conference, let me know. Or let me know about your friends who do this.

On a side note, I noticed awhile back that I have a conspicuous absence of links to female bloggers (w/the excpetion of the Asbury Blogroll & The Methoblogroll), so I’d love to remedy that by adding links to blogs written by clergywomen or laywomen from our conference.

Happy Feast of Saint Cyril of Alexandria!

St. Cyril of Alexandria With apologies to my Nestorian brothers and sisters out there, today is June 27th, which we all know is the feast of Saint Cyril of Alexandria! Good old Cyril, Bishop/Saint/Doctor of the Church, was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He was most famous for his battle with the Nestorians.

The Catholic Online website recounts some of this battle, “In 430 Cyril became embroiled with Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, who was preaching that Mary was not the Mother of God since Christ was Divine and not human, and consequently she should not have the word theotokos (God-bearer) applied to her.”

The article at Catholic Online continues by describing more of Cyril’s work, “During the rest of his life, Cyril wrote treatises that clarified the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation and that helped prevent Nestorianism and Pelagianism from taking long-term deep root in the Christian community.”

Perhaps it is an appropriate day to think about the teaching role of bishops. Do you think our United Methodist bishops neglect this task? I know William Willimon and Timothy Whitaker are two sterling examples of teaching bishops. What about the rest? Should this be a central or important role for our episcopal leaders?

This feast day also makes me think about the post-modern movement of the Church. It is interesting that we are concerned to recover many early Christian practices, but we don’t seem to have a huge concern about apologetics. Don’t get me wrong, I know that for many this is considred a thoroughly modernist enterprise, but maybe we need to ask why it was also part of the pre-modernist enterprise. It seems that folks as early as Justin Martyr cared about apologetics, even though you’d never think he was a modernist. If it is a premodern Christian practice, does it have a place in the post-modern emerging Church?

Anyway…happy feast day!

Rural Megachurch…Who Knew??

I came across this article today about a Church in the rural town of Bergman, Arkansas (population 407). They began with 31 members and have swelled to include nine towns in northern Arkansas. This congregation is now averaging approximately 1,000 people each week with 60% of the people making the ten mile drive from nearby Harrison, Arkansas (est. pop. 12,700).

Pastor Shannon O’Dell says, “When church is done right, they’ll drive from anywhere…” Apparently for Church to be “done right,” according to O’Dell, the Church needs to be “pastor led,” rather than congregational or democratic in polity.

“If there is one thing I could say to the rural church it is: The reason they don’t grow is that they are structured un-biblically,” he commented. “Families in power want all the power in the small local rural church with no responsibility — you’re so trapped you can’t move forward.”

Although the structure is certainly top-down, it seems like the ministries function more from a paradigm of broad involvement and participation. Perhaps it is congregational in practices and discipline, rather than congregational in control,

After doing most every job himself the first two years of his pastorate in Bergman — “secretary, preschool, youth, and sometimes music” — O’Dell said his primary responsibilities now include sermon preparation and mentoring (formerly known as counseling). “The rest I give to my staff who always confidently and competently get the job done.”

In the end, it seems that O’Dell has a missional focus and a passion for transformation. You may not agree with his leadership philosophy and top-down rhetoric, but you can certainly agree with his passion to reach out missionally to rural America.

“If God called you to the backside of the desert in Africa, your peers, family and friends would celebrate and support you. Why is it we don’t even think about going to the backside of rural America to watch God build an emerging church for His glory?”

Questions: Could he do this while serving a two-point charge? Could his leadership style mesh with UMC polity? What do you think about this in particular is it a one in a million deal or is it repeatable? Is this what God expects from rural (or any other) congregations? If we say no, are we just using that as an excuse? If we say yes, can it happen anywhere?

Wesley 2.0

Lately, I’ve been reading several things on the flattening of the world and the technological revolution that has taken place over the last few years. The two I’ve read most recently are The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman and Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Dan Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. All of this has me thinking about possibilities for the Church. How can we faithfully use the latest techno-cultural developments to help make disciples of Jesus Christ?

We don’t have to reinvent the wheel here, because there are some really smart folks who have discussed these issues (eg. Tall Skinny Kiwi’s post on Church 2.0). There are several others within this link that have some good thoughts as well.

So, how could this work for we United Methodists? What about Wesley’s small group accountability systems? Could we use technology to form groups of like-minded clergy and laity into accountability groups via the web? Privacy might be the biggest issue here, but it would allow methodists from all over the world who take discipleship seriously to take part in a group.

What about communication? Could districts communicate more effectively through blogging? A recent communication through my district has made me think about this. Our district superintendent recently sent out an email on an important social issue (torture, to be more specific) with some of his thoughts on a resolution that was voted on at Annual Conference. Some people have carried on an ongoing debate by replying to all of the people on the email list. If this communication took place via blog, it would probably encourage more effective debate and interactivity on all things communicated through our district office. In a rural geographically spread out district like ours, this could be an excellent source of community as well.

What else can we think of? On this note, I know our youth are far more cutting edge than we are with their involvement in interactive relational networks, something Gavin Richardson has spoke about in the past.

OK, what about our conferences? How should our communications departments be handling Web 2.0? What about web visionaries for each conference who could lead the way for our congregations?

Let’s think about this – where can we be on the edge of technology instead of catching up?

Explaining This Holy Mystery

Yesterday we celebrated Holy Communion, as both of my churches are official members of the communion-once-a-month tribe. At one congregation we had several visitors, which is quite a feat in a small town that has relatively few newcomers.

We had one couple who was very curious about the service and the United Methodist understanding of communion. I want to honor their privacy, so I won’t give too many details, but they were delightful. After the service they wanted to have a conversation about United Methodist beliefs regarding the sacrament.

I’m not sure exactly where their understanding of communion was formed, but it became clear that it is very important to them that the place they worship not hold an understanding of communion that resembles transubstantiation. In fact, if I understood them correctly, they weren’t too fired up about consubstantiation either.

I pointed them to This Holy Mystery and tried to explain my understanding of the real presence of Jesus in the sacrament, worked through a Wesleyan understanding of the various means of grace, and then applauded their concern for sacramental theology. Over and over, they used the word symbolic. In contrast, my buzzphrase was “Christ is truly and really present, but it is a great mystery metaphysically speaking” (OK, I didn’t use the word metaphysically, but I tried to get at that in less philosophical language).

They seem like great folks, and my primary concern was to make sure I didn’t mislead them in any way concerning the United methodist views of the Eucharist while honoring their search for a Church home. Next time I see them, I’ve got two copies of This Holy Mystery workbook by Gayle Carlton Felton that I’m going to give them. Thank God for good resources!